Presently the Luminosity Function of Planetary Nebulae (PNLF) is experiencing a renaissance with the ESO-VLT and MUSE. The method holds the promise to create another independant technique to measure the local Hubble constant. However, underpinning the empirical standard candle with a solid theoretical understanding has as yet not been achieved. PMAS observations of luminous planetary nebulae (PNe) with well-established GAIA distance shall provide insight for the galactic PNLF and their PNe and central stars near the PNLF cutoff in the context of predictions from stellar evolution theory.
DFG Programme
Research Grants
